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tricks not treats?

Finally, I’ve finished a Halloween quilt before Halloween. I could also simply say, “Finally, I’ve finished a Halloween quilt,” but more on that in a bit. The thing is – yep, there’s a thing – that this quilt that I was so in love with while I piecing the blocks, this quilt I couldn’t stop thinking about, seems to have fallen just short of the mark for me. I only really saw it while editing the photos. There’s not enough contrast, which means there’s limited movement. I must have messed up the original arrangement of the blocks because they seem to be in rows of dominant color, which again means limited movement. The funny thing is I always tell my students to use technology to their advantage and shoot quick pics of their quilts in progress with their cell phones so they have a handy visual guide of how they arranged their blocks. And then I go and not do that myself. I took the photos. I just never referred to them in my eagerness to get this pieced and basted in one night.

But you know how it goes. Live and learn or whatever. I got to try a fun new technique – sewing strips to create pieces that would then be cut into kaleidoscope triangles. I was completely inspired by the quilts of Linda Rotz Miller, one of my quilting heroes, most specifically this beauty. And I got to make a kaleidoscope quilt, which is something I have been meaning to do for years. I see what I would have done differently, and I will have the chance to remedy that in my next kaleidoscope quilt. Because there will be a next one.

Meanwhile, I know a couple of wee people who seem pretty willing to make it theirs. And I need to get sewing on last year’s unfinished Halloween quilt stat.